Jacint Verdaguer, national poet of Catalonia

Ramon Pinyol i Torrents

Resum

Jacint Verdaguers vast and rich work makes him the most outstanding Catalan writer of the Romantic period, and even
of the whole nineteenth century. Doubtless, he is also one of the classic Catalans of all times. His work was not only of an
intrinsic and lasting quality, it was also of historical importance.Verdaguer brought with him the consolidation of the
literary language of the Renaixença1 which was the foundation for later literature. Furthermore, his prestige as a writer
resulted in a measure of international recognition for the Catalan literature of the Renaixença. Interest in the figure of
Verdaguer often related with the polemics around his biography, an interest that is still alive nowadays. This interest has
created a field of its own, the verdaguerisme, that in the last thirty years has turned him into a privileged subject for study
in the world of Catalan philology, with doctoral dissertations, critical editions and essays, besides a specialised academic
review (Anuari Verdaguer) and a scientific society devoted to him (Societat Verdaguer).